癌症就业歧视案激增真相调查

    在沃尔玛公司（Wal-Mart）效力多年的一名叉车司机接受癌症手术治疗回到公司后就遭到了解雇。为此，沃尔玛公司支付了27.5万美元的和解费用。家得宝公司（Home Depot）也为类似的一个案例支付了10万美元的和解费用。此前，这家公司解雇了一名正在接受治疗的癌症员工，后者为这家公司服务了13年。同样因为癌症被解雇的还有一位学校社工和一位临床服务主任。

    近年来，美国公平就业机会委员会（Equal Employment Opportunity Commission，简称：EEOC）受理的涉癌投诉案件迅速上升，增速高于大多数其他类别的就业歧视投诉案件。2003-2013财年期间，癌症歧视投诉案件（由公司在职员工或者前雇员提交的初始报告）数量增长了120%，2013财年多达974起。美国公平就业机会委员会的数据显示，依据《美国残疾人法案》（Americans with Disabilities Act，简称：ADA）提起的投诉案件数量总体增长了72%。

    美国公平就业机会委员会下属美国残疾人法案部门的高级律师和顾问莎朗▪雷纳特说，癌症歧视投诉案件数量上升之所以这么快，一部分原因在于国会2009年通过了《美国残疾人法案》修正案，扩大了法案的涵盖范围。此前，人们对这项法案是否涵盖了所有类型的癌症还存在疑问。

    雷纳特说，另一个原因是，雇主们没有为一线主管提供相关培训，导致这些主管不知道员工身患癌症或者其他重病时应该如何处理。他们也许还没有意识到，一旦员工宣布得了癌症，他就应得到《美国残疾人法案》的法律保护及相关援助。

    “每隔几年，新一批的主管和经理可能就会上任，就需要重新安排相关培训，”她说。“而很多情况下，用人单位都会画一条黑色警戒线。”经理们已经形成了一种膝跳反应一般的条件反射，下意识地认为，员工一旦享受完了《家庭与医疗休假法案》（Family and Medical Leave Act）规定的12周无薪假期，就必须返回工作岗位。“你已经用完了法定假期，该结束了。”他们就是这样想的。实际上，雷纳特说：“应该对《美国残疾人法案》的合理调适义务条款进行评估。”

    适度调整是一个具有弹性空间、没有作出具体定义的概念，根据雇员的自身情况和雇主拥有的资源情况会有所不同。它可能意味着，雇员可以在家里兼职，或者是享有更频繁的休息安排，亦或执行兼职工作时间表。雷纳特说，有时（法定假期用完之后）额外多休几周的假期也可以算作适度调整；但有时，它在一家小型公司可能意味着会给同事和公司造成沉重的负担。

    用人单位可以查看员工的病历档案，还需要在员工的癌症护理一栏准确填写未来的安排。

    医疗机构在这方面同样也会出问题。此前，几家医疗保健机构和医院也因为解雇确诊罹患癌症的员工和美国公平就业机会委员会达成了和解。（财富中文网）

    译者：Wil

    Wal-Mart (WMT) paid $275,000 in a settlement after firing a long-time forklift driver after he had returned from cancer surgery. Home Depot (HD) paid $100,000 to settle a similar case where a 13-year employee was let go during treatments. A school social worker and a director of clinical services also were fired for cancer disability.

    The number of cancer-related complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has soared in recent years, growing faster than most charges. Cancer complaints, the initial report filed by a worker or ex-employee, rose 120% between fiscal years 2003 and 2013, when the number of complaints hit 974. ADA disability charges overall grew 72%, according to EEOC data.

    Part of the uptick has to do with the fact that Congress expanded what the Americans with Disabilities Act covers as of 2009. Before that, there were questions over whether all kinds of cancers were covered, said Sharon Rennert, a senior attorney and advisor at the EEOC's Americans with Disabilities Act division.

    Another reason for the gains: Employers are not training front-line supervisors on how they should manage a staff member with cancer or other serious diseases, said Rennert. They may not realize that as soon as the employee announces he has cancer, he's covered by the ADA's provisions and assistance.

    "Every few years, you've probably got a new group of supervisors and managers. You need to repeat the training," she said. "Too often, employers draw a kind of black line," said Rennert. The manager has a knee-jerk reaction, assuming that once their 12 weeks of Family and Medical Leave Act unpaid time off are over, they must head back to work. "You've gotten your FMLA leave; you're done," is their thinking. In reality, "the ADA reasonable accommodation has to be assessed," she said.

    Reasonable accommodation is a squishy, undefined notion that varies based on the worker and employer's situations and resources. It could mean that the employee is eligible to do part-time work from home, or more frequent breaks, or a part-time schedule. Sometimes, an extra few weeks' leave (after the FMLA time is used up) would qualify as reasonable accommodation; other times, at a small company, it might be too much of a hardship on the coworkers and the company, Rennert said.

    Employers are allowed to ask for medical documentation and need to "fill in an accurate picture of what's ahead" in a worker's cancer care.

    Yet even medical centers don't get it right. Several health care and hospitals settled with the EEOC over discharging their own workers who were diagnosed cancer.